SEA CARRIAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 190, 12 August 1922, Page 12

SEA CARRIAGE.

IMPORTANT LEGISLATION. i ' PILLAGED CASES. | jßy Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.l , WELLINGTON, Thursday. The Hon. E. P. Lee, as Minister of . Trade and Commerce, formally moved the , second reading of tlie Sea Carriage of Goods Bill to-night, with the object of . referring it to the Statutes Revision , Committee, which will take the evidence of Chambers of Commerce and other interested persons. There are nine clauses . in the measure, but seven have been taken unaltered from the Shipping and Seamen's Act, the latter's clauses relating to sea carriage being repealed. Clause 5 is a new important provision, stating that any clause, written or stamped, upon the face of a bill of lading or other shipping document relating to the carriage of goods purporting to describe the condition of packages or goods'referred to therein shall be null and void unless the attention of the shipper has been called to the condition of such- packages or . goods at the time of their delivery to the ship, and the fact that attention has been so called has been noted'on receipt then given; (2) when any package is , delivered broken or showing signs of taaving been tampered with or pillaged, the production of bona fide invoices shall be sufficient prima facie evidence that contents of the packdge were in accordance therewith, and the onus of proof to the contrary shall rest upon the shipowner. Another new clause provided that all parties to any bill of lading or other document relating to the carriage of goods from any place in New Zealand to any place outside New Zealand shall be deemed to have intended to contract ac- . cording to the laws of New Zealand in force for the time being, any stipulation or agreement to the contrary or purporting to oust or restrict the jurisdiction of I the Courts of New Zealand in respect of that bill of lading or document shall be null and void. An amendment to the Mercantile Law Act extends clause 15 of thi original Act by providing that a bill of lading in the hands of a consignee shall be conclusive evidence, not only as against the master of a ship, but as against the owner or charterer of the vessel.